The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night in the final game of the NBA’s Play-In Tournament to earn the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
But more importantly to Utah Jazz fans, the Minnesota win means the Jazz will have just one lottery pick in the upcoming draft — their own.
Since the Jazz are owed the Timberwolves’ first-round pick by way of the Rudy Gobert trade, Jazz fans were hoping the Wolves would lose on Friday and miss the playoffs, giving the Jazz another lottery pick and more of a chance at a top pick.
Instead, the Timberwolves’ pick will be the 16th selection in the June 22 draft. The Jazz also have the Philadelphia 76ers’ first-round pick — No. 28.
The Jazz have the ninth-best odds in the draft lottery with their own pick (20.3% chance at a top-4 pick and 4.5% chance at the No. 1 pick).
The NBA Draft Lottery will take place on May 16 in Chicago and be broadcast on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. MST.
The lottery will determine the first four picks, then after those teams are decided, the other lottery teams will be given the remaining picks (No. 5 through 14) in reverse order of their regular-season records.